WITH one best-seller, McCarthy's Bar, under his belt, Pete McCarthy has taken his search for other McCarthy connections more than a few steps farther.

Having launched his first pilgrimage in Ireland, by tracing his Anglo-Irish identity through visiting bars bearing his name, and following a trail of hilarious and quirky experiences, McCarthy's latest sees him making such far-flung connections in Gibraltar, Morocco, New York, Montserrat, Tasmania and Montana, and even finding a remote Alaskan town of McCarthy, with its population of 18.

Once again his wry sense of humour and inimitable observations provide a magical read.

McCarthy is a lone traveller, who loves the feeling of being alone in a place he does not know. It gives him the chance to immerse himself in his surroundings, providing him with wonderful encounters with the Irish abroad, and the chance to pass humorous comments on the behaviour of those he meets.

The problem with McCarthy's books is that they have to be read twice! There is so much going on that it is all too difficult to absorb in one reading. It was so with McCarthy's Bar (which, incidentally, has sold more than 750,000 copies), and it is proving so with this latest journey. It has to be the Oirish in him.

Updated: 08:45 Wednesday, October 02, 2002